Around the world in 108 days

South Bend family fascinated by world sailing trip.

South Bend family fascinated by world sailing trip.

January 11, 2006|JIM MEENAN Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Imagine meeting Desmond Tutu. Or climbing a mountain in South Africa. Ever been to Mother Teresa's orphanage? For the children of Scott and Susan Sernau, of South Bend, this was not a daydream in the middle of a geography class. Rather, from late August to Dec. 7, this was reality in a 108-day, around-the-world voyage that was a geography class come to life. Semester at Sea was the program their father, Scott, a sociology professor at Indiana University South Bend, taught aboard the MV Explorer, a former cruise ship-turned world classroom. Some of his writings from the ship appeared in a series of My Turn articles in The Tribune's Community Section. His wife and children, amid some battles with seasickness and homesickness, were along for the ride, the beneficiaries in what the family readily calls a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Anna, 10, who will attend St. Anthony School this semester; Luke, 14, who is home-schooled; and Sierra, 16, who is a junior at Adams High School, made the trek and each brought back different views of it. "It was a really different experience, and it was fun to try to speak with people from different countries," Anna said of the trip that saw the family visit several different countries. Making the most of communicating nonverbally was one of the highlights for Anna, but so was meeting Tutu, the South African bishop and 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner who tried to solve South Africa's apartheid problem by peaceful means. "He's just a really nice, funny guy, I thought," she said. "I also enjoyed the Mother Teresa Orphanage in India. It was kind of depressing, though, because many of the children had disabilities." A ship is a society unto itself, and for Sierra, that was a mixed bag. "I really didn't have a good group of peers to hang out with," she said. She, too, enjoyed visiting Mother Teresa's orphanage in India. But other orphanages in places like Venezuela surprised her in a good way. "They are not like stereotypical orphanages," she said. "They were really nice orphanages." Running low of her own money, she says she was ready to come home a month before the trip ended. "It was a good experience and I learned a lot, but I was definitely ready to come home," she said. "You don't get seasick at home." For Luke, the trip had much to offer. But nothing was greater than climbing Table Mountain in South Africa. "There's lots of space up top," he said. "They've got these railings you don't go past and you don't go off the path. But if you get far enough in, these railings actually stop and you can pretty much go wherever you want. That was so much fun. That was probably the most fun I had at any port on the trip." In all, the family stopped in several countries for about five days each while spending much of the rest of the time at sea, where their father taught three classes a day. Luke found there was quite an education just on the ship, where he and his sisters were part of 11 "dependents" making the journey. "The most interesting people were on the ship," he said. "Maybe because I got to know them better. "It was a very different society from what I am used to, but I am not sure if it's all that unique." One person who had no trouble calling the entire journey unique was their mother, Susan. She planned the children's day and found herself dealing with plenty of apprehensions and joys as she visited unusual places. "In retrospect, it was really a valuable experience," she said. "But it was like climbing a (14,000-foot) mountain without having a lot of background. It was a lot of hard work." And sometimes it was a tough call for the mother of three deciding just what to do. "A lot of these places I was hesitant to go to because they just weren't in my history books when I was in high school and I did not know about them," she said. "I was pleasantly surprised with how much there was to explore." And she loved her children meeting people from around the world. "I think I was really impressed about how much person-to-person contact we did and how great it kind of was to get to know the personalities of people of different countries." They visited the Bahamas, Venezuela, Brazil, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Burma or Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan and, briefly, Hawaii. Nothing seemed to catch her eye and her heart more than what she observed in Myanmar. "Our ship (of 1,000 people, including 680 students) was the largest group of Americans to be there since World War II," she said. "So you have a whole culture that is virtually untouched by the western barrage of commercialism." But the country was far from perfect. "It was also the most troubling," she added. "The government goes out of its way to keep the poor people poor, to keep the rural people rural. There are many towns that don't even have roads." And people were careful how long they would speak with the visitors for fear of reprisals. Another spot that left a strong impression was South Africa. "Watching these people that have TB (tuberculosis), AIDS, all kinds of things," she said, "to see how much they are still able to have joy, and their love for each other and love for dance and their love for laughter." She also found the trip a true growing experience for her children. "I think the thing I most appreciated is I not only had pictures of the kids in different countries, but that they all had personal challenges in terms of getting used to the situation, and they rose to the occasion," she said. "So it was really a great growing opportunity. "I am really satisfied with the end result." That included a kernel of wisdom that goes far beyond books -- and cuts to the chase about humanity. "The stereotypes we have about other countries are just that ---- stereotypes," she said. "Underneath that are some really cool people ---- real people."